Means for gas distribution



(No Model.) I 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. I

W. A. HOEVELER.v

MEANS FOR GAS DISTRIBUTION. No. 323,685. Patented Aug. 4, 1885.

2 Shets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

W. A. HOEVELER.

MEANS FOR GAS DISTRIBUTION.

No. 323,685. Patented Aug. 4, 1885.

e l d 5 e if i I F UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE.

\VILLIAM A. HOEVELER, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

MEANS FOR GAS DISTRIBUTION.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 323,685, dated August 4, 1885.

I Application filed April 10, L885. (N model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM A. HOEVELER, of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means for Gas Distribution and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to the conveyance of gas along streets and roadways in a manner to permit the safe use of high-pressure mains along the street proper and low-pressure service feeders or sub-mains along the sides of the street. My object is to place the distributing system in such a condition once for all that the hi gh-pressure mains need never be torn up orin any way disturbed, (except for repairs,) but that all cutting and connecting for service- I pipes and nipples shall be done on the lowpressure mains.

My further object is to-so dispose the sub mains for low pressure as to be adapted to have any desired section or block of a city readily shut off from communication with its house-service pipes in case of fire or other accident.

To these and other ends my invention consists, first, in a system of gas distribution wherein the high-pressure main or mains are located along the street or road under its surface, and are provided with branches including pressure-regulators, saidbranches leading to low-pressure mains (one or more) contained in a hollow street-curb open at the rear below the pavement for access to the mains; further, in providing each city or town block, or one or more sides thereof with a distinct lowpressure main for feeding the service-pipes, said main being provided With a stop-valve, whereby the block or definite portion thereof may be readily cut off from the main without preventing the regular supply of gas on the other side of the street or the neighborhood; further, in a combined street-curb and gasmain conduit; further, in a combined streetcurb and gas-main conduit having its rear open at the bottom for ready access for inserting nipples or making connections; and, finally, in the arrangement and combination of devices substantially as hereinafter fully described and claimed.

in the drawings,Figure 1 is a transverse section of half a street, showing one sidewalk and a building with my invention applied. Fig. 2 is a diagram of a portion of a city, illustrating the application of my invention to general distribution of gas atlow-pressure froma highpressure main.

I prefer to arrange the high-pressure mains A in a subterranean conduit, B, along the center of the street, as described and claimed in a separate application filed by me. At each block I take off a branch, 0, interposing a pressure-regulator, cl,as shown, and branch 0 goes to a sub-main or low-pressure main, e, which traverses one or more sides of theblock, and is provided with a stop-valve, f. To the low-pressure main 6, I connect directly the house-service pipes g, as shown. In this way at any time it may be desirable the whole territory traversed by any of the low-pressure mains (2 may be instantly cut out by closing the stop-valve f belonging to it. This valve may be made conveniently accessible for such purpose. I

Along the edge of the sidewalk and constituting the street-curb, I lay the conduit H, preferably of cast iron in connected sections, and in this I place the low-pressure main e,as shown. The combined curb and conduit H is made with or without a bottom, but has its rear open, as shown in Fig. 1, and is preferably formed with stiffening flanges k, which also serve to bed it firmly in the ground. The service-pipes 9 may then be run directly to the low-pressure main 0 without cutting or in any way disturbing the curb-conduit H. The latter may be at suitable intervals providedwith openings or ventilators m of any desired form.

The result of this system of arranging the high and low pressure mains is that the labor of repairing and inspecting the high and low pressure mains and feeders is reduced to a minimum, their frequent disturbance is unnecessary, and consequently the joints are not apt to become leaky, and the only excavation necessary in attaching service pipes is that of the sidewalk, which will not in any way impede traffic on the street.

Where the sub-main supplies gas at a suitably low pressure, the hollow curb I-I may be so formed as to itself become the low-pressure main, in which case the ventilators would be dispensed with and the service'pipes attached directly to said curb. The curb in such event may be re-enforced by a thicker wall at its wearing-edge than would otherwise be necessary.

As a matter of additional precaution I concrete the wall of the cellar, as shown at 10, where the service-pipe enters the building.

Having described my invention, I claim- 1. In a system of gas distribution, the combination, with a subterraneous high-pressure main continuous along a street or roadway, branches therefrom including pressure-regulators and leading to relatively short sub-mains, a conduit laid along the curb and containing said sub-mains, which latter are adapted to supplygas at low-pressure to the buildings of a single block or side of a block, and stop-valves between the high-pressure main and the first building supplied, substantially as described.

2. In asystem of gas distribution,acombined street-curb and gas-main conduit having suitable supports for said main, and its rear side open near the bottom for direct access to said main, substantially as described.

3. In a system of gas distribution wherein a higlrpressure main is located along a street or roadway and supplies gas at low pressure to sub-mains along the sidewalk, the combination therewith of a combined street-curb and low-pressure gasconduit provided with cape devices for leaking gas, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own Ihave hereto affixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM A. HOEVELER.

lVitnesses:

O. L. STRAUIB, A. A. CONNOLLY. 

